Page 39 of Soul Bound

Why? I don’t know.

“Still nothing from your little witch?” Ransom’s eyes fill with humor when I stuff my phone back in my pocket with an irritated huff. “Since when do you get bent out of shape about a girl? I mean, you’re not usually one to grow attachments.”

It’s true. I knew somewhere out there I had a mate, but the chances of ever finding her are very low. It’s unrealistic to sit around and wait for her to possibly show up, so I dated around. And by dated, I mean I had a series of meaningless hookups. I was never invested enough to make anything official.

And now that Ryker and Pruitt broke the curse that made it so only wolf shifters could mate with other wolf shifters, my mate could be anyone—any species. The mating aura shifters have been using to identify their mates doesn’t even work anymore—instead of showing up around someone because fate deemed them your perfect match, it shows up when the two parties are truly in love and committed to each other. At least that’s how it worked for Pru’s aunt Addison, who’s a human and Noah, our retired Beta Wolf.

I’ve never put much thought into finding my mate. For someone like Ryker who found his mate young and then thought he lost her, his mate consumed his thoughts. But for me, it’s always been this distant thing that might not even happen. And even with the possibility of turning rogue if I never find my mate hanging over my head, I decided to focus on what’s in front of me, not what could happen. And that meant sleeping around with the available female wolf shifters in the pack and when I went through all of them, I moved on to other available women in the area, not caring whether they were shifter or not. As long as I got the release I was craving, that’s all I cared about.

“I’m not attached.”

“Then why do you keep checking your phone like some clingy boyfriend? She went shopping dude, it’s not like she’s going to run away.” Ransom shoves another mouthful of cereal into his mouth, milk dribbles out at the corners of his mouth. “You’re not still scared she’s going to run away, are you? She seems pretty invested in finding that baby.”

“We both are.”

“And now that she knows she has a blood relative here, I doubt she’ll want to leave anytime soon.”

“Is she going to move in with Esme?” Ryker pipes in.

I jerk my head in his direction. “Why would she do that?”

He scowls at me. “Because Esme is her family?” he says slowly. “I don’t mind that she’s staying in one of the guest rooms for now, but she can’t stay here forever. It’s not realistic.”

“Do you think she’ll move back to New York when all of this is over? She has millions of dollars at her disposal now, she can go anywhere she wants. She’s not a wolf shifter like us, so living in the mountains probably isn’t super appealing to her. She’s a city chick, I can tell.”

Why is the idea of her leaving making my skin itch and my wolf fight to break free? I pause in my pacing and slowly relax my hands that had been balled into tight fists at my sides.

Ryker raises a brow at me. “You good? You look like you want to punch something.”

“Punch Ryker again, I want to record it for Remington.” Ransom pulls out his phone from his pocket, holding it up like he’s going to film me.

“Fuck off,” I snarl at him. I stride to the back door, deciding I need to let my wolf out now or his constant fighting is going to drive me fucking crazy. “I need to go for a run.”

“I’m telling you. That girl is under your skin!” Ransom calls over his shoulder before I can slam the door behind me.

I need to shake off these feelings I have for her because my brothers are right. I’m not acting like myself. I don’t get attached to girls. And I sure as hell don’t sit around at home waiting for them to respond to a text message. This isn’t me. I need to focus on what’s important and finding Thalia’s baby needs to be my top priority.

13

Winslow

It’s been two weeks since I got to Montana and we are no closer to finding the baby then we were when I first got here. Esme is still trying to find a spell we can use to locate the baby, but ever spell she and her contacts know of requires the blood of the individual you are looking for. Which is so incredibly stupid, but it is what it is. I’ve had Whisper looking for any information he can find on Sterling, so far, he has jack shit. I’m not surprised since he’s working with very little information since I can’t tell him the full story. Ranger says it’s never a good idea to tell humans about what we are.

Whatweare…gah! I’m still not over the fact I’m a fucking witch.

The biggest part of me is so relieved that I have an answer as to why I can see the dead. It washes away all the doubts I had and silences the voice in my head that liked to whisper everyone was right, and I am a nutcase.

Things with Ranger have been weird. I feel like he may be avoiding me. He’ll check in with me often, but he never sticks around or hangs out. And I’m not thrilled about the fact I don’t like him leaving me alone. At first, I thought he was letting me get to know Pruitt and Remington better and giving me time to come to terms with everything. But after the first week, I realized he’s pushed me away.

I’ve been spending a lot of my days with Esme, working with her in her shop and talking about Amara. I still don’t know how to act around her, I don’t know what it’s like to have a family member who actuallywantsto spend time with me. I can’t help feeling like at any time she’s going to do what my parents did and shove me to the side. I’m rational enough to know those are my insecurities talking, but that’s the thing about insecurities; They’re the little voices in your head that keep you awake at night. They’re the things that keep you from living up to your true potential, the things that stop you from accepting the love you deserve. And they can fuck off.

But it’s easier said than done, right?

I’ve been staying with Pruitt and Ryker the whole time, and I’m starting to feel like an intruder. Ranger has been sleeping in his trailer that is somewhere on the property, so it’s just the three of us here at night. Esme has offered to let me stay with her in her apartment in town, but it’s a one-bedroom. She’s offered to let me stay in her room, but I don’t feel right taking her bed from her. Besides, Ryker has been way better since the first time I met him. I still don’t completely trust him, but I’ve felt more relaxed around him. He’s been making an effort to be nice and get to know me.

Ransom and I have developed a relationship of constant teasing and a few pranks here and there. He’s like a brother I never had, and I enjoy the hell out of his company. Where Ranger and Ryker exude dominance and power, Ransom comes across as totally laid back and sometimes a little immature. But I see it—sometimes I can feel it. I’ve always been able to read people well and I know without a shadow of a doubt, Ransom is a killer. It doesn’t scare me. It should, but after our first unfortunate encounter, I feel safe in his presence now.

I learned all about what rogue wolves are from him. He was telling me about how he’s been going on hunts with Ryker and his friend Sawyer. They talk about these rogue wolves with such disgust, but I can’t help but feel bad for them. It’s not their fault they didn’t find their mate in time, they didn’t want to become the monsters they are because of it. Male wolf shifters have a biological clock of sorts that allows them a certain amount of time to find a mate, the amount of time they have differs from wolf to wolf, but they all have an internal clock counting down in them.

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